The United Nation Security Council's renewed mandate for UNIFIL, the force that is responsible for patrolling southern Lebanon, is "an important step" in preventing arms from reaching Hezbollah, though "there is much more to do" United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Jerusalem Post.

UNIFIL, Haley recounted, is officially an "interim" force even though it has existed for more than 40 years. UNIFIL exists, in part, "to help the Lebanese government ensure there are no weapons outside of the government’s control in the area near Israel." Unfortunately Haley wrote, UNIFIL "has been utterly failing at achieving this fundamental part of its mandate.”

Since its 2006 war with Israel, the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah has been "massively increasing its supply of rockets, missiles and fighters," with an eye towards attacking Israel, which Hezbollah remains committed to destroy. (Last month, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah boasted that Hezbollah is 100 times more powerful than it was in 2006.)

According to Haley the new mandate will require that UNIFIL report when it is "prevented from doing its job” so that “we know about it."

UNIFIL will also step up its patrols to prevent Hezbollah from adding to its deadly arsenal.

If Hezbollah interferes with UNIFIL's work, according to the new mandate, "the Security Council will know about it. And if the UN refuses to act on this information, the world will know about it."

Over 50 Police Officials from 12 U.S. States Arrive in Israel for Counterterror Training

A delegation of 52 American law-enforcement officers from 12 states, has arrived in Israel for the second consecutive year to train in counterterrorism tactics together with their Israeli counterparts.

During their stay, the United States delegation is housed at the Beit Shemesh police academy, where officers will meet with special combat units, train in counterterrorism techniques, and be addressed by Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich, The Jerusalem Postreported Tuesday.

The delegation is set to return to the U.S. after a September 11 memorial service to be held at the 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in the Arazim Valley.

Michael Safris, chief of the Essex County’s Sheriff’s Office Deputy Division, who is Jewish said he has visited Israel 40 times and, in return, hosted numerous Israeli police delegation in the U.S. over the past ten years.

“From all my trips, I know the delegation forms an important relationship, and if something happens in the U.S. or something happens here, we stay in touch and honor each country’s fallen officers,” Safris said. “The relationship and comradery developed over the last two years is one of the reasons we keep coming,” he added.

Safris also explained how the struggle for survival sets Israeli police apart from other forces in the world. “In our communities, for a lot of police officers, it’s a job,” he said, adding that “I think that it’s more than a job for a lot of the officers in Israel because they are protecting their homeland.”

Hamas Refuses Red Cross Request to See Israeli Captives

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar rejected a request on Tuesday from the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross to meet with Israelis believed to be held captive by the Gaza-based terrorist group.

Peter Maurer, president of the ICRC had requested meetings with Avraham Abera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed, and Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, all of whom reportedly crossed from Israel into Gaza on their own accord in recent years, The Times of Israel reported. In addition to the three civilians, Hamas is believed to be holding the remains of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

The Associated Press reported that the issue of the missing Israelis was brought up during the meeting. However, Hamas continues to demand that Israel release the terrorists who have been re-arrested since their release in a 2011 prisoners swap before it provides any information on the three Israelis or the soldiers' bodies it is holding.

Though Hamas has not allowed the ICRC access to its hostages, a statement released by the terrorist group claimed that Sinwar had told Maurer that “all institutions will be open before the Red Cross to ensure the standards of international humanitarian law are being applied.”

In February Hamas admitted that it had turned down an Israeli offer to rebuild Gaza in exchange for freeing Mengistu, Sayed, and Abu Ghanima and the bodies of Shaul and Goldin.

American comedian Conan O’Brien told the medical team at Safed’s Ziv Medical Center that they deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for their free humanitarian treatment of Syrian men, women and children spirited across the border to Israel after being wounded in Syria’s ongoing civil war.

“I am amazed and excited by what is being done here at Ziv for the sake of people from a neighboring country and an enemy, and I think you are the ones who need to receive the Nobel Peace Prize,” O’Brien told the medical staff.

Ziv and other northern Israeli hospitals have accepted more than 3,000 Syrian civilians brought to Israel by various humanitarian NGOs in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces. Safed (Tzfat) is about 40 miles from the Syrian border.

Among the Ziv personnel O’Brien met was Dr. Alejandro Roisentul, the Argentinean-born head of the medical center’s maxillofacial surgery unit, who recently was honored by Buenos Aires for his humanitarian work with wounded Syrians at Ziv.

The celebrity also spoke with Syrian patients and with Israeli-Arab social worker Fares Issa, who is responsible for the psychosocial care of Syrian civilians treated at Ziv.

Over the course of the past week, among other activities, O’Brien has dined with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, met Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, floated in the Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee, shot a scene for the hit Israeli TV show Fauda, trained with a female IDF combat battalion, dropped in on a youth hackathon in Jerusalem, played matkot on the Tel Aviv beach, danced and chatted with Palestinian Arab teens and shopkeepers in a West Bank village, picnicked with an Israeli-Arab family in Jaffa, and had a fake bar mitzvah at a Tel Aviv synagogue.